My new and first plane

[fusionfab 14]

Here's my new Avid Mark IV named Evelyn. I couldn't pass up the deal but she needs some cosmetic attention and a few other things. To date I've done;

Re painted wings, struts, and 3/4 of fuse (until doors have new alum)

Rebuilt the carbs and am in the middle of reconfiguring the throttle setup

Ordered new nose cowling

Rebuilt brakes, and tires on the way

And this weekend hopefully replacing all the glass, new tinted turtle deck, metal on doors and paint.

Still lots to do but will keep plugging away

[IFMT 36]

Make sure you weigh her out and get your cg figured right. It looks like the rad is right under the engine? Might help to move the rad back under the seat area. I am running a soob in my mark IV and needed to hang 20 ish lbs of lead at the back to get it in the envelope. Flies great though. Cheers. B

Edited 3 Dec 2014 by IFMT

[C5Engineer 1170]

Congrats! Lots of good info here on Soob's and everything Avid. Feel free to ask any questions!

[fusionfab 14]

The previous owner gave me a c of g report that was done before he decided to sell and shows that 10lbs was added to the tail, no would it still have to be done again if I'm just replacing parts?. But then again there's a new coat of paint.

The rad is mounted vertically directly under the firewall but I'd really like to change that. Do you have any pics of your rad?

[IFMT 36]

Take a look at "soob ignition maintenance" post number 19 under Rotax and other engines forum. This shows some close ups with the cowl off my plane. My rad is basically in front of the seat truss to avoid the gear. The rad is vw rabbit. I dont know how to link it so you have to look under the forums. Do your own cg. It's your ass in the sling. 

Edited 3 Dec 2014 by IFMT

[fusionfab 14]

Oh ok I can kind if see it, mounted flat under the belly of the plane? Or is that a duct to it? I'd really be hoping to mount my rad that way.

Yes you're right a new c of g should probably be done.

Also I don't think my current rad is the rabbit one. Although I believe I have one that came with the ea81 crate engine I bought

Edited 3 Dec 2014 by fusionfab

[IFMT 36]

 The rad is mounted at a slight angle higher at the front and about 3 inches lower at the back. The aluminum ducting makes all the air go through the rad. Moving the rad back will allow you to put a removable inspection cover in the middle of the floor and you can get heat right off the rad. Doesn't throw much heat below -15 C though. I am going to experiment with blocking the rear off to cut down the cooling and direct all the hot air up into the cabin. Moving the rad back will streamline the look of the plane so it doesn't look like a Mack truck coming in on final.

[fusionfab 14]

Yeah the rad relocation is definite in order for mine because just as you said looks like Mack truck. I was going with Jay Leno.

Now I just double checked my other rad and it's the vw rabbit rad. But the one I have on now I'd like to figure out. It's quite a bit smaller length and width wise but it's 2" in depth. More than the rabbit.

How do you like the muffled exhaust? Noticeable quiter? Did you sacrifice power at all?

Edited 3 Dec 2014 by fusionfab

[IFMT 36]

The exhaust is 1 3/4 and ties together into one. I think I read that with the bigger pipes back pressure is not a problem. I wouldn't say it's particularly quiet but it does sound good. The 'muffler' is more like a straight pipe. Kind of like a red devil or the old blue bottles. The vw rad makes a nice proven install under the plane. Heres a pic.

[6320012s 12]

I don't know if you have flown it yet, but I see that your brakes are set up in the stock configuration.. ie. if your toe is on the opposite brake from your rudder input, as the opposing pedal comes into your foot, the brake gets depressed giving oposite braking to your rudder input.   This condition is a Ground Loop intensifier.    I corrected the problem by connecting the fixed end of the brake cylinder to the floor instead of the rudder cross tube.  As a result, the more rudder you give, the easier it is to add brake.  To get it all right requires a bit of fussing, but it reduces your chances of ground loop in the first 100 hrs by at least half and greatly improves control on hard surfaces.  Have fun!

[Fly-n-Low 181]

fusionfab, nice project!!!

 

IFMT, very nice bird and info. I love a soob!!! That is the wide gear?

[IFMT 36]

Thanks! For short hops around the patch or a couple of hours I just keep the fuel load down to 10-12 gallons. No need to fill the 28(us) gallon tanks right to the nuts. It's a little porky at 726 lbs empty and it is probably a little heavier since I put on the 21 inch aero classics from desser. Getting to know your flaps is the key to "performance". I do have the wide gear and beefed seat truss. As stated by others: LOCK the tailwheel. I took the cam right off my maule and it is really the only way to go. These things are so short that a castering tailwheel really isn't necessary anyway. Bernard

[fusionfab 14]

166nflyer, so your mod was changing the mount location on bottom of cylinder to the floor itself. What distance from the pivot tube did you end up at?

Imft did you remove the tail wheel springs also?

Thanks for all the help guys

I've only flown tri gear. My instructor is setting me up with an aerobatics pilot to teach me the tail dragger

[Av8r3400 1178]

Tailwheel: There are several discussions on this subject. I'd suggest you do a search and read through them, here and over at TeamKitfox.

The main lesson to take away, when you are learning your plane, say the first 100 hours of PIC, if you have a Maul tailwheel (which it looks like you do), remove the unlocking cam so that the tailwheel can not swivel. This cam is held on to the outside of the body of the wheel by two straight blade screws, which may be safety wired. You will still have full steering, but the swivel feature is no longer available.

The wheel going into swivel at the wrong time is the main reason for rookie ground loops.

[wypaul 448]

The Bing carbs are very fussy about the air entry to the carbs and it appears that yours will have problems.  I had to go with filters mounted directly to the back of the Bings to get even burn between the front and rear cylinders on my 912, I had nice smooth ells going into the carb with vanes to try to get a smooth air flow into the carbs but just could not get an even burn.  When you get it running check the plugs for even burn between the cylinders.  It does not appear that you have room to get the filters on the rear of your carbs but  my guess is that you will need to do something different than what you now have.

[EDMO 1078]

I would be a little concerned about the "Looks like Plastic" fuel filter in the engine compartment -

If that is a Stratus Soob, I may have some photos of another engine in an Airdale and maybe carb filter locations....My soob is single Holly carb. 

SuberAvid has the dual-carb Stratus Soob too.

EDMO

[fusionfab 14]

Should I wait and see after the cowling is on for an induction purpose regarding the carbs? I've seen a few setup like this and this is the first I've heard of the issue. What about a central airbox that leads to the carbs, think that would work? The room available is pretty damn snug.

The story behind this engine:

Previous owner bought this completely rebuilt and setup for aircraft from a company in New Mexico?

Had it installed but could never get running well. Was always gutless and wouldn't rev up

So he got frustrated dealing with the supplier and it sat for some time.

I bought it, but before I found this plane I bought a rebuilt ea81 with the single carb. Picture attached

I did te compression tests, leakdown tests, everything to the engine in the plane and all was perfect. Figured out carbs were a disaster, worst I'd ever seen in any engine. So cleaned them up and rebuilt them.

Then ran much much better. Was putting out much more power, running kinda smooth, but otherwise running as it should.

Was popping a bit and vibrating, followed throttle back and the connections were setup vertically and pulling at different amounts, so carbs not synced..pictured

I changed the throttle from a dual cable to a splitter and a single cable to the control and is all synced up now

[EDMO 1078]

Well, at least we know that it is not a Stratus engine. When it comes to Bing carbs, I have to sit and listen to the ones who know something about them.

EDMO

[fusionfab 14]

Ed you don't think the one on the plane is a stratus? I'm not certain but after the carbs were done and the new throttle it runs really nicely. So far...I'm happy with it. Just going to look into changing rad setup as previous suggested and also something different with a stainless exhaust.

[EDMO 1078]

I am guessing that there must be a way to check on it with Stratus - I am thinking that Stratus marks their cams in some way too, but that would be a teardown item, and they will grind the cam and replace lifters for anyone's engine. I need to look at the redrive housing again - it could be early Stratus - I will check my photos, and I know that SuberAvid has posted photos of his somewhere on here.

Why don't you call Stratus2000. That is the new name - check internet?

BTW: Stratus makes a stainless exhaust that supposedly gives a few more horses and is quiet.

Just threw me when you said New Mexico - thought maybe it was built there and not on West Coast?

Mine is a Dave Johnson (now deceased) of Canada.

EDMO

I found the photos of Suberavid's Stratus engine posted in "Subaru Carb Heat" - you can put that in the search box to go there in AvidFoxFlyers General Hanger - real neat post about how he connected his carb head and air filters to dual carbs with 2 photos.

EDMO

Edited 7 Dec 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[fusionfab 14]

Oh the New Mexico thing was for some reason what was in my head. I'm not sure where it was but that rings a bell. I remember for sure that he said he paid $8000 for it a few years back and never got it running correctly since day one. Which I'm convinced after the carb work and correct throttle connection that it's running at full potential now. Someone I know has a portable engine dyno so I may bother him to do his magic.

Still lots of little things to do to make her pretty again and everythjng mechanically and structurally checked over. Additionally the modifications everyone is suggesting which I appreciate 100%

Going to look for that exhaust also

[fusionfab 14]

I've pondered the idea of using the new engine I have with the single carb and intake. Any thoughts?

[EDMO 1078]

Probably nothing bad about that, except loss of about 20 hp if the dual carb is a Stratus.

Variables, such as cam grind, head milling, hydraulic lifters, points or e-pickup, timing advance and reduction ratio differences can really amount to a lot.   Matching prop and engine power can make or break a combo too.

EDMO

Edited 7 Dec 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[fusionfab 14]

Yeah the new engine I have has has all the machine work and electronic done to it with receipts from earlier this year. Just has the larger 2 bbl on it. I will dig a bit more to find out about where the dual carb motor came from

 

 

****update****

Just got an email back from the gentleman who helped the elderly man sell me the plane. He spoke to the original owner and stated that he purchased the engine from stratus a few years ago, paid over $8k, the carbs and air filters came with the engine. 

Edited 7 Dec 2014 by fusionfab

[EDMO 1078]

Great News about Stratus engine - Now you should know what power and rpm's to expect from it.

EDMO